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7th Sunday Year A
February 23, 2014 SPEAK TO ALL AND TELL THEM LIKE IT IS! Almost everything now attracts controversy. You say your
piece and you are immediately branded as liberal, conservative, out of touch
with the times, medieval, a bigot, a clerico-fascist, a wimp, stupid, an
ignoramus, etc. Labels abound in this image-conscious world that always seeks
for convenient compromises (read: a position that tries to please everyone, but
ends up satisfying no one). St. Paul today refers to one that he probably was called as
such so many times after his conversion. He was branded a “fool.” A fool was
apparently one who did not agree with the popular vote, who went against the
tide of public opinion. Let me give you one issue that was, and still is, popular
… “Kill the bastards!” people now say about heinous criminals. Then, as now,
revenge is mistaken for retribution. “An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.”
So said the Old Law!So what is wrong
with the old law? Why fix something if it ai…

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
February 16, 2014 IF YOU SO CHOOSE … It is hard to see the connection … Wisdom is not associated
with rules and commandments. The Scribes and Pharisees were definitely learned
people, by the standards in operation then.They were the equivalent of today’s illuminati, the few, the privileged
and the titled. Who would not want to count among the then society’s elite? But today’s readings would have us look beyond titles and
degrees: stuff that eyes do not readily see, nor ears so quickly hear about.
Just look at what goes on repeatedly in our country. It pays to hover around
higher circles, and to hobnob with people walking in the corridors of power.
Big time thieves and crooks rubbing shoulders with “honorable” men and women in
all three branches of government change colors from being plain thieves to
being whistleblowers, to being heroes, all in a matter of a few years, or a few
months, or even a few weeks. They are definitely not your run-of-the-mill diplo…

NOT ON HUMAN WISDOM, BUT ON THE POWER OF GOD Today is some kind of a repeat of Candlemas. All three
readings speak of light, as against gloom; wisdom from above as distinct from
earthly human power; and about shining brightly for the world to see. It is
about having the courage to be seen and recognized as such, by a world that,
even up until our times, has been “walking in darkness.” But the Gospel passage
adds another metaphor for discipleship – that of being salt for the earth. The readings, therefore, talk about being visible, and being
flavorful; being seen and being tasty; being real and being effective. You’ve seen the likes so often in life … fixtures that add
beauty and form, but serve no real usable purpose; museum pieces that are good
to look at, but which offer no real practical use to no one; artifacts that
give a clue to something in the past, but which does not make life any better
for anybody here and now. Ok, let us push it a little mor…